French senators have removed around 20 over-transpositions of EU directives, which are considered to harm businesses’ competitiveness. This was part of a “tidying-up” mission which is sometimes at odds with the public interest. EURACTIV France reports.

For 25 years, the internet allowed business models to rampantly grow and radically change everyday life. Now, a period of regulation has come – and the awareness of the impact of digitisation. EURACTIV Germany’s media partner “Der Tagesspiegel” reports.

EXCLUSIVE / Digital services that collect users’ data, like Facebook and Gmail, will be pulled under EU consumer protection rules as part of a European Commission overhaul due next month. Possible sanctions will be raised to up to 4% of a company's turnover.

Consumers make hundreds of choices every day, some of which imply weighing the tradeoffs of joy versus long term health. These are highly subjective decisions, and in a free society adult consumers should have the right to make these choices and not have them dictated to them by public health tsars, writes Fred Roeder.

MEPs from the European Parliament's outgoing Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee have expressed concern about the poisonous role that Eurosceptic groups could play in consumer legislation during the upcoming five-year legislature.

Companies found guilty of taking part in cartels are likely to face more damages lawsuits from victims after Europe's top court said that cartel members could be found liable for price rises initiated by rival businesses outside the cartel.

Vehicles already have the capability to track information on their own. Very soon, they will be able to transmit that data over secured networks, for instance, in the event of a breakdown. This can ensure a faster, better equipped and more effective response. However, there are also concerns about data protection. Learn more about the rights consumers deserve when it comes to access to data with their cars.
Learn more at: http://www.fia.com/

SPECIAL REPORT / Recent health scandals involving faulty breast implants and toxic replacement hips have illustrated the need to strengthen safety checks on medical devices in the EU, according to patient groups. A new EU regulation currently in the works must rectify this by putting patient safety first, they argue.

The European Commission unveiled proposals yesterday (29 November) intended to make it easier for consumers who shop anywhere in the EU – including online – to file complaints against manufacturers without going to court.

Airlines are pressing the European Commission to revamp the 6-year-old rules on passenger rights that guarantee compensation for flight cancellations and delays that typically soar during the chaotic winter travel season.

A new law on cross-border sales, due to be unveiled today (12 October), can help dig the EU out of the economic crisis, according to the Commissioner who will present it. Meanwhile business groups ralliy against the proposal, claiming it will hinder, not help small companies.

The European Commission has reached the limits of what ‘full harmonisation’ of rules in the single market can achieve, and will test the waters with a "28th-regime" for its new sales law contract proposal this week, according to the EU's Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding.

Consumer groups are broadly satisfied with new consumer rights legislation in Europe, but SMEs fear the law will increase administrative burdens on small traders. Governments have two years to implement the EU's new Consumer Rights Directive after years of negotiations concluded with its passing into law last week by the European Parliament.

Consumers and businesses alike should reap the benefits of new consumer rights legislation in Europe, with years of negotiations set to conclude with the approval by the European Parliament on Thursday (23 June) of the EU's Consumer Rights Directive.

A common European contract law yesterday (8 June) came one step closer to reality after MEPs backed proposals by the European Commission to establish an optional EU-wide system. But consumer groups warned that such a scheme would do little to boost cross-border trade and only add to the confusion faced by businesses and shoppers alike.

Representatives of all three EU institutions have reached a provisional agreement on the bloc's Consumer Rights Directive after hours of negotiations, paving the way for the draft legislation to be voted into law later this month.

The EU's new Consumer Rights Directive is designed to drag consumer rights legislation into the 21st Century by creating legal certainty for businesses and better protecting online shoppers in particular. But EU policymakers are currently at loggerheads over the scope of the draft law.

An updated version of the EU’s Consumer Rights Directive was approved by the European Parliament yesterday (24 March), but MEPs postponed adopting a final position on the new law to buy themselves more time to reach agreement with member states on the most controversial issues.